Clouds of Strife
by Knightowl 4183
Summary: Galbaldia and Shinra, let the battle begin for neither can win as long as the other exists. Also probably the first and only fic where Tifa is inducted into DEEPGROUND from a young age. Oh yeah and Cloud becomes a unstoppable WEAPON of Destruction...
1. Chapter 1

Clouds of Strife

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, or any other game in the series. Square Enix however does. Also this has mention of Characters based on those from Tour of Duty.

Chapter 1. Deling of Shinra

"Are you sure about this Mr. Deling?" Asked Mayor Valentine as he watched the regional Shinra medics take his sedated daughter away. "I mean will you truly be able to treat my daughter for whatever that Strife brat did to her?"

"I assure you that we shall do our very best," Western Regional President of Shinra Vinzer Deling spoke in his compassionate politician voice which he has used successfully in the past to tamp down fears of the "common" man while swindling them to his way, so successful was this that the suckers usually thanked him for it. "especially for someone who has faithfully supported our modest business even with that whole mess the people of Galbadia left behind.."

"I heard of that for a long while Mr. President," Mayor Lockheart responded, undoubtedly about to spout off the usual tripe that he fed people through proxy about his reasons for leaving while the Galbadian Military and government were nearly destroyed by the attacks of Esthar. "that they would attempt to accuse a good person like you of blackmail and power mongering is sickening, why you tried to reform their government from the inside and they spit in your face!"

"I myself was discouraged by this baseless accusation.." Deling responded sadly with all the skill of an award winning actor, which come to think of it he was even if it was only small parts on the stage, but then that was the whole point of him moving on to others when the stage shows started to take off so he wouldn't be noticed. Now look at him a masterful politician who perfected his craft on the stage while using various tricks to make sure that he was never really remembered and that their was no paper trail linking him with any of the many false identities he made to perfect his abilities to bullshit and con while looking as genuine as possible.

"Looks like the dumb bastard is buying Deling's spiel.." Spoke the Galbadian soldier wearing an insulated tactical combat gear (check out the concept art for Deep Eyes in the final fantasy wiki, the one that looks like fireman's gear or a jumpsuit) the glowing goggles that were part of the helmet were why they were named Deep Eyes.

"And I suppose your M.P.E.I.S goggles are telling you all that?" The woman in heavy dark blue plate armor asked the man sarcastically.

"Naw Proudfoot," The man replied easily. "that's what the directional voice amplifier my reconnaissance gear has standard is for and maybe the fact I was trained to read lips.."

"Laugh it up Flemings and I will kick you right over the lip of this ridge!" Corporal Jane Proudfoot growled out as she hefted her hydra heavy machinegun meaningfully, causing Sergeant Ryan Whitaker to thank his lucky stars it wasn't the compact tiamat triple missile launcher she also carried around wherever she went.

"Got it," Corporal Neil Flemings replied before silently adding a couple more words. "you mana enhanced amazon.."

"What did you say!" She roared over the commlink while trying to bring her tiamat to bear only for Captain Gray Edwards and Sergeant Whitaker to have to tackle her before she blew them all to kingdom come. "Get off me and let me end his pathetic life!"

"Stand down Corporal!" Gray hissed firmly into the comm.

"But sir!" Proudfoot protested with a glare at Flemings hidden under her helmet.

"I was talking to both of you," Gray snarled at both of them with a tone many drill sergeants would be proud of. "cause if you two blow this op I will slit both your throats and dump you in the nearest Mako reactor!"

"Yes sir!" Both Corporals paled at this threat before snapping to attention and saluting as they responded in unison.

"What do you think their talking about?" Whitaker asked his friend and boss while nodding towards Deling and the Mayor of Nibelheim.

"Nothing good I can tell you that.." Gray responded to his friends inquiry.

"Looks like Deling is interested in that Strife kid your ex has been studying," Flemings replied without thinking only to then notice the silence from his team leader, when he turned his head he noticed Gray was fingering the butt of his Cerberus pistol in a meaningful way. "but then it makes sense to study him to try and cure DMP since she is one of the ones suffering from it.."

"DMP," Gray lifted up the visor on his helmet and openly stared at Flemings with a look of shock and deep in his eyes loss. "she has Delayed Mako Poisoning.. What stage.."

"3," Flemings spoke with a wince even as he said it, since three is the stage you get lost in your own mind and then die some time later. "she's stage 3.."

"Bullshit!" Jane snarled as she suddenly pressed her boot on Flemings throat. "If she was Stage 3 she would be a drooling vegetable, now tell us the truth!"

"Dr. Sid implanted her with the prototype Mako converter implant!" Flemings shouted as he desperately tried to stop her from crushing his throat.

"If that was true then she would be confined to the hospital with doctors monitoring her all the time," Jane rebutted immediately. "their's no exceptions to that so speak up and tell us the truth!"

"The government waived the mandatory hospital confinement in her case because she was close to developing the medicine being used to treat stage 2 victims like your brother!" Flemings shouted causing Jane to stumble back in shock. "She has Progressive Delayed Mako Poisoning and the reason they haven't confined her for observation is that while Dr. Sid developed the implants that can either prevent Mako poisoning or stop it from getting worse she developed all the medicines being used to treat the disease where no one else could, that is the truth..."

"Jesus," Whitaker moaned at the revelation. "how the hell do you know all this and why aren't you either dead or confined?"

"Because he's one of the best hackers we have," Spoke a voice that caused the whole squad to silently groan. "and now that you know you are ordered to keep your mouths shut as well, are we clear?"

"Yes sir General Hein!" They responded immediately with only Jane showing any enthusiasm for the order, but then the fact kissing ass was the only way for her to get back behind the turret of a Zeus artillery cannon it wasn't that surprising she would show such enthusiasm.

"Good," General Douglas Hein purred, before barking out more orders. "now then when your finished with your mission you are to scout out the Nibelheim reactor to verify whether or not certain rumors we have heard are true, if so you are to fall back and we will deliver a weapon capable of handling the problem.."

"Yes sir.." Deep Eyes Recon Squad 18 replied with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, by now able to spot a mission that just screams trouble from a mile away.

**Nibelhelm Canyon Later That Day**

"Listen if you want that data on whatever Deling's up to your going to have to talk to Captain Edwards or Sergeant Whitaker!" Neil shouted into his comm.

"Are you trying to blackmail us!" General Hein snarled aware that the head of the Galbadian Military, General Caraway listening in on this conversation with a pensive frown on his face.

"With all due respect sir this is what my squad's currently dealing with!" Neil stated as he turned on the transmitter that relayed the video signal from his gear through a Black Boa Class Extraction Shuttle which in turn relayed the image to various mediums which included hidden landlines and short range transmitters.

"Dear god!" General Caraway exclaimed upon seeing the tentacled monstrosity currently trying to kill Corporal Flemings and from the jostling of the camera from him running Jane Proudfoot who was missing a majority of her armor and from the look on her face only semi-conscious. "What the hell is that thing!"

"Edwards what the hell is that monster!" Hein snarled into the radio.

"We found the damn thing hidden in the Nibelheim reactor," Captain Edwards stated over the sound of gunfire. "unfortunately we encountered a black ops team that we believe to be Deling's personnel troopers judging by the fact one of his underlings commanded them to kill us all the minute we were spotted! Thankfully when those idiots breeched the containment for this thing it went straight for them first before focusing on Jane for some strange reason!"

"What are you facing exactly?" Hein asked with a feeling in his gut that he wouldn't like it even as General Caraway was green lighting the squads extraction, which isn't surprising since they were short of actual veteran Deep Eyes squads since the field is inundated with incompetence who rely solely on their equipment, take a quick peek at the enemy, and then head home leaving the infantry to get railroaded by the KIA Train.

"Well I can tell you truthfully that the rumors of Deling experimenting on recreating the Legendary Sorceress is true since 3 of the women in strange armor we are fighting are throwing so many spells at us that it would kill a normal Soldier!" Whitaker replied in a strained tone. "Worse their are some women here that could actually take a blow from that tentacled freak and get up for round two, one of them even ripped a bolted down pod in the reactor from the floor and bludgeoned the thing with it before it tore her in half!"

"Backs up the reason he is so interested in the Lockheart girl.." Major Elliot murmured to his boss. "She displays the same capabilities as what Sergeant Whitaker describes including the bursts of powerful magic she displayed when she made those pillars of stone surrounding her village after arguing with her father.."

"I get the feeling that President Shinra would be mighty angry to know about a project like this going on under his nose," General Hein replied in a quiet tone to his subordinate while casting a glance at General Caraway. "no matter what kind of "gift" he is given for his Deepground project.."

"That is very true sir.." Major Elliot responded with a smirk.

To the Deep Eyes that were observing this interaction they all wrongfully assumed that General Hein was using his contacts to get Deling in trouble with the head of Shinra, only for in hindsight to realize this was the point that Hein chose to desert the sinking ship that wasn't rewarding him with the post he believed should be his. In other words he had many gripes with the Galbadian government that ranged from them not going out and conquering their neighbors to expand their own borders, to the fact that while Caraway was one of the leading figures in the effort to build up their military he hadn't gone far enough in his opinion, and finally he was tired of all the bureaucracy of their democratic country bogging them down.

"I'll go round up some infantry to deal with any Shinra pursuit force resulting from this debacle.." General Hein stated in his characteristic way, Caraway and many others aware of his less than stellar regards of Deep Eyes except for the squads hand picked and trained by his own men. In point of fact he heavily favors the infantry and artillery for combat purposes hence the fact no one saw it as strange that he took the ship housing their sole Zeus Cannon along with many of the men who served under him, his disappearance and reappearance among President Shinra's retinue in Midgar were later called the Double Edged Defection since while it severely hurt Galbadia his maverick tendencies and straight forward tactics threw many a wrench into his own sides plans.

"Good luck!" General Caraway stated as he was in conversation with the second of the Black Boa class shuttles called the Black Eagle which is geared more towards dangerous extractions than the first which was retooled for recon and scientific study without losing too much of its arsenal in case of trouble. The third was made purposely for heavy action assaults hence the name Black Crow since Crows are typically seen as an omen of misfortune to those who see it.

"What's his status?" General Caraway spoke into the receiver the minute he was sure Hein was out of hearing range thanks to a slim M.P.E.I.S disguised as a monocle after many breakthroughs that have been kept secret in case of leaks, though in Caraway's reasoning it was the fact that Shinra came out with its own M.P.E.I.S a year after a few of Hein's squads had members who "misplaced" theirs over the course of that year, it could be paranoia but he felt it was better to be sure. "Good then I say to deploy him before things get worse.."

He felt bad about this whole thing but the kid was literally hardwired for combat because of his accident and if they don't you him the things he could kill wouldn't necessarily be a bunch of monsters..

**Back in the Frying Pan**

"Dammit Jane," Neil shouted as the thing held Jane by her arms with two tentacles piercing her shoulders by an inch. "don't let this ugly bitch win!"

"She can't hear you.." Spoke Jane's voice from in front of him, to his horror the thing now looked like a naked version of Jane except for the four tentacles coming out of her form. "What's the matter Neil? Don't you know she secretly wants you, just like you want her? Why we could enact all your personal fantasy's if you just let her go.."

"Fuck you," Neil snarled not letting up an inch even as his camera and comm sent this entire freaky experience straight to headquarters. "you shapeshifting daughter of a crime against nature!"

"Good boy.." Jane whispered for what looked like the final time.

"Roooaaaar!" The thing bellowed in outraged anger at his declaration showing sharp teeth and a inhuman ability to stretch its mouth.

What snapped Jane Proudfoot awake besides what felt like a cura spell was the louder roar coming from above them coupled with the intense heat right in front of them.

"Holy shit!" Jane and Neil screamed in shock as they were propelled backwards, even as they fell the pieces of Jenova withered and turned to ash from where they were stuck in Jane's skin.

The badly injured Jenova lunged backward only to find itself face to face with a ten foot tall WEAPON with a sword that was at least 7 foot tall.

"What the hell is that!" Jane shouted in shock and horror.

"So that's what Strife looks like in real life.." Neil spoke in a frightened and shocked whisper.

"That thing is responsible for my brother's possible cure!" Jane responded in a angry whisper.

"Well at least your parents didn't take up the Shinra option otherwise he would of ended up with a piece of Tentacled and ugly over there inside him.." Neil stated before realizing that she would not have wanted to know that.

"We are going to have a long talk when we get back to base.." Jane growled in an angry tone.

"Yes dear.." Neil stated with a wince.

**Authors notes. **I hope this is more to people's appreciation since a reader of mine pointed out many don't like Final Fantasy the Spirits Within so I cut out the Gaia Theory and such and adapted it. Cause honestly I hate making up characters on the fly and if I can find a ready source of fictional but real characters from a show I will adapt them into it, just don't expect Jem and the Holograms in an action fic or any fic for that matter, or for example GI Joe in a crossover with a bishounen manga fic which I don't write.


	2. Chapter 2

Clouds of Strife

Disclaimer I don't own Final Fantasy 7, 8, or the spirits within nor anything that is featured or appears in this fic which includes Tour of Duty.

Chapter 2: The Problem with Phantoms

"Your telling me that those hundreds of people that died were the result of Shinra playing Frankenstein with a goddamn extraterrestrial parasite!" Hein shouted incensed beyond imagining. "Then starts playing with "spirit particles" and makes it worse by giving this metaphysical infection physical form!"

"As far as we can tell Jenova was originally in a type of hibernation when Dr. Sid first tested his spirit particle theorem and even though it was in one of the first known Phantom hot spots that we found no Phantoms showed up at that time," Spoke one of Galbaldia's few remaining Military scientists who was also the third best expert on Waveform theory behind and respectively. "looking over the data we've found that the second test official test in that same area which from our reports a child conceived by a Shinra employee was in that area, the child Genesis Rhapsodos was born and then given to the landlord of the village. From what we know he is now a Soldier and one of only two to rival Sephiroth in power and since we know that Sephiroth is the product of the Jenova Project the answer becomes very clear..."

"In other words if their was no infection we would have just seen the ghosts of animals and trees like the ones that appeared before those damn Phantoms.." Hein sighed with not only frustration but the realization that those damn spirit particles just made the problem "metaphysical" as some of the geeks called the Phantoms..

"Basically." The scientist stated with a sigh while everyone else attending this meeting either grumbled or looked pissed because of a loss of a loved one to the Phantoms. "If we hadn't come across this information we probably would have continued under the misconception it was the result of a meteor or some type of invasion.."

"We had a sample from the Phantoms and every other phantom we came across and it turns out that we had completed the Waveform but the reason the Phantoms are still showing up is that parasite is still here," sighed in a defeated manner. "the only way to get rid of them for good is to either end the Soldier program or find a waveform sample from one infected by Jenova.."

"And what good would that do!" Hein shouted angrily while bringing his fist down on the table.

"Ah I see," The Military scientist . "it would prevent those with Jenova cells from feeding from the Planet and when they would eventually die they wouldn't be able to poison the Planet for the Planet would be able to break them down like a disease attacked by a white blood cell.."

"Let's say we do that," Hein sneered in disgust. "would the Phantoms just stop appearing or something?"

"Theoretically yes.." The Scientist replied calmly.

"And what about the first plan?" Lt. Elliot asked curiously.

"The first plan would just be just killing those in Soldier and destroying any Jenova samples which would end up with this Jenova tainted lifeforce poisoning our Planet since the Lifestream wouldn't be able to process this foreign matter.." Dr. Ross stated with the fact she wanted to say you idiot very clear in her posture.

"And this spirit waveform of Jenova is just going to fall into our lap?" Hein stated sarcastically.

"I believe we should table this part of the discussion until later," General Caraway spoke in a long suffering tone. "right now we need to discuss upping recruitment along with expediting the completion of Bio Etheric Barriers that were abandoned a couple months ago since I have little doubt Deling will come after us and the rest of Galbaldia as soon as he can.."

"Makes sense especially since we can protect our citizens from the increasing Phantom attacks." Hein stated his opinion while thinking of his wife and child and their safety, sadly upon their return to the science outpost they found it destroyed and many of the civilians taking shelter there dead or wounded with X-ATMO92 standing guard over the survivors with a small group of remaining Galbaldian soldiers.

At finding a knife in his critically wounded wife Hein quickly realized that all the dead and wounded were killed with guns and not the work of Phantoms as he first thought, at finding a still living Shinra trooper among the wounded lying on the ground missing the knife stabbed into his wife Hein would proceed to beat the man to death with his bare hands while his men looked on without even flinching. His wife survived and his daughter was saved by the same kind of chestpiece that Aki Ross had but with the difference of using Bio Etheric energy to keep her heart beating.

**2 Months Later**

"So they had your little girl secretly implanted with a bomb in her head," Colonel Hein stated with a disgusted sigh at the length's Shinra is willing to go. "and that is the reason you didn't move on the remaining members of Deling's personal troops within the city.."

"When I heard what they had done to my little girl I had a sniper team set up to kill all of them, "General Caraway responded as the rest of the people in the observation room were listening in without seeming too obvious about it. "in fact it was Gray and Whitaker who were part of that team and Flemings who identified that the device was a dead man's switch and not remote like Deling claimed so I assigned people to isolate them while making sure they were never alone whether it be with my girl or even close to someplace they could evac the city. In point of fact I personally shot down multiple evac helicopters that were their to "evacuate casualties" when in reality they tried to take my little girl, this is one of the reasons I think highly of since it is his tech that allowed us to keep track of not only Rinoa but the man with the dead man's switch so that Deling could never actually get his hands on her.."

"Why not just remove it?" Lt. Elliot asked respectively.

"Kid, that damn thing had a built in booby trap that would set it off if you tried to mess with it," Sgt. Zeke spoke up from where he was leaning against the wall. "I should know since a buddy of mine had a sister with the same damn thing placed in her head so they could blackmail him, well needless to say we got the one with the dead man's switch and took her to a hospital only for her head to blow up on the operating table the minute the surgeon tried to remove it.."

"The more I hear about Shinra the more I hate them!" Hein snarled angrily.

"You have to hate them on a one on one basis," Lt. Goldman stated with a bitter grimace. "I've known plenty of good men in a Shinra uniform but I have also known plenty of a piece of shit in that same uniform. The one thing I can tell you is that the Shinra family are vipers and the only one who is remotely redeemable is Rufus and that would take a lot of fucking work.."

"Forgot your momma was a Turk Lt.." Zeke responded with a wince.

"Really and what happens if she comes to you asking for information on what we are doing!" Hein spoke up in a belligerent tone.

"That would take Hojo to pull off since I blew her head off with a shotgun.." Lt. Goldman spoke up as he walked from the room.

"What happened?" Aki asked with a sympathetic look on her face.

"His mom was a sociopathic snake in the grass, his dad was a coldhearted military man, and his brother was a very decent man who made the mistake of joining that damn company.." Zeke explained with a sigh. "His brother came to him with information on some kind of 14th unit of Soldier called "Lost Force" that answers directly to President Shinra, apparently President Shinra deployed unit thirteen of the Soldier force to a place called Deepground beneath Midgar where all these experiments were carried out on both prisoners and wounded members of Soldier."

"But "Ragnarok" was supposedly killed in action?" Colonel Hein interrupted. "So what does this "Lost Force" have to do with them and this Deepground!"

"The way he explained it was that Deepground was experimenting on people to try and make better Soldiers and this "Lost Force" was made up of four of the resulting subjects with exceptional ability," Zeke replied. "which makes sense since the information the Lt. got from his brother makes it clear they annihilated "Ragnarok" with out a single casualty and for their "service" they were apparently placed in charge of Deepground and dubbed the "Restrictors"..."

"Anybody else freaked that their are better Soldiers being bred under Midgar?" Flemings asked in a freaked out tone. "Cause finding out 4 guys took out one of the strongest Soldier forces in existence does not fill me with good feelings!"

"Do you have any kind of hard data on this Deepground?" General Caraway asked with admirable composure in response to this news.

"Yes General we do," Zeke replied with a salute as Private Daniel Purcell handed over the folder to the General. "it also includes the information we were able to extract from his mom before we executed her.."

"You had his mom?" Hein stared at him with raised eyebrows. "How did you capture her?"

"We found her after getting an alert from the room his brother was in," Private Daniel Purcell responded to the question. "and that was the scariest I ever saw the Lt..."

_**Flashback**_

_**"Hello Myron.." Spoke the Female Turk using Ruiz as a human shield. "Such a pity your brother turned out so emotionally weak when he had such talent for me and your father's teachings, why he could have succeeded either as a high ranking officer like your father or a Turk like me.."**_

_**"You never could understand him Mother," Lt. Goldman stated with a disgusted look on his face towards him mom, the shotgun in his hands held towards her but at a downward angle of a man not going to shoot. "neither could dad now that I think about it, in fact both of you are the worst parents I have seen in my life.."**_

_**"Now Myron that isn't the best idea since I have one of your men at my mercy," The female Turk hissed in an annoyed tone. "what happens if my finger slips on this trigger?"**_

_**"Now lady why don't you just calm down, we can talk this out.." Zeke stated in his most placating tone. **_

_**"Nice attempt at reasoning with me Sergeant Anderson but I am neither feeble nor weak minded," Mrs. Goldman stated with a cold and cruel confidence. "to prove my seriousness I believe that I will now execute Mr. Taylor.."**_

_**With a press of a button on the remote in her other hand a crouching robot hidden in the shadows lit up and walked into the light to show Corporal Marcus Taylor from Corel held in the machines grip with two hands holding him up by his shoulders while scythe like blades were held on either side of his body ready to split him in half with a gesture. In point of fact the bladed edges were just lightly drawing blood they were so close to his skin.**_

_**"Say goodby-aaaahhh!" Mrs. Goldman screamed as her left knee was destroyed by a shotgun blast even as Ruiz lunged against her left arm forcing it wide and allowing Zeke to unload a few rounds into her shoulder forcing her to drop the remote without pressing the button, at this same time the shotgun barked two more times striking her right knee and then her right shoulder in quick succession.**_

_**"Doc stop her from bleeding to death so we can interrogate her," Lt. Goldman stated coldly even as he readied his shotgun to fire again. "also dose her with the antitoxin for the cyanide based poisons she likes to hide in her teeth then remove her teeth for her..."**_

_**Even as he finished speaking the Lt. went over to her and using the knife with a cauterization function to make it red hot proceeded to remover her fingers with a cold detached intensity.**_

_**"Hey Lt. isn't this a little much?" Zeke asked the Lt. out of earshot of the men.**_

_**"My older sister quit the Turks in disgust of all the dirty laundry they had to clean up and the petty power plays rampant in the upper echelons," Lt. Goldman replied in a calm tone. "she was found dead less than a day later in bed with her female lover who just so happened to be a reporter, according to forensics she poisoned herself after suffocating her lover. The same night she died mom came home with a broken wrist and a bullet hole in her jacket, when we got the news she looked devastated except for the telltale twitch of her lips that always showed up when one of her plans unfolded just like she wanted it to.."**_

**Flashback End..**

"One of the talents I never had listed in my file is that I can read lips," Zeke told the gathered men calmly with a distant look on his face. "when he went in there with his shotgun his mom told him with that same twitch that he mentioned flashing for just a second on her face that she was glad one of her children actually had the balls to face life like a Turk, cause otherwise she would have died with her reputation tarnished.."__

"So your telling me that his mom trained him and his siblings to be Turks because for some demented reason she wanted one to succeed her?" Colonel Hein responded to this tale with incredulity but also this kind of look that said he believed it. "And I thought Lt. Elliot's mom was the only one of her kind.."

"With all due respect Colonel," Lt. Elliot spoke up to his superior officer. "my mom made me the soldier I am today..."

"And a damn finer soldier would be hard to find." Colonel Hein stated with a calm certainty.

"Excuse me but what about the kid in the other room?" Flemings asked a little impatiently. "You know, the one who reached his hand into her head and pulled out the bomb and placed it in the badguys head!"

"How can he be a WEAPON!" Aki Ross's shout carried into the room from the partially open door that she had exited a minute or so ago to talk with one of the nurse that had come to talk with her about the test results on the blonde haired boy in the room. "You realize that WEAPONs are usually a couple hundred feet tall and are the Planets response to threats to its existence don't you!"

"Yes I am aware of that Dr. Ross but the results of both the Bio Etheric scans and the genetic analysis makes it clear the boy is part WEAPON," Replied the ex-AVALANCHE scientist Shalua Rui who they had captured on the behest of Deling only to misplace her very soon after. "I don't know how this happened but the proof is undeniable, nonetheless will you allow me to use your equipment to find my sister?"

"Of course we will!" Aki responded without hesitation causing Hein to gain a headache just from the fact that she could promise the use of military equipment without a thought to clearance.

"Dr. Ross their are numerous waveforms that coincide with Soldier's heading right towards here," Shouted one of the assistants in a jubilant tone which stunned Hein since the man had been one of the few who lost his family to Shinra's cowardly attack. "one of the ones in the convoy is the Spirit we have been searching for!"

"Are you sure!" Aki responded in an excited tone.

"We've triple checked the results and its confirmed!" The scientist stated excitedly. "We can complete the Waveform which will severely weaken Shinra's Soldiers!"

Suddenly Colonel Hein realized the implications of the completed Waveform even as he remembered how a Soldier assigned to security on the project had seemed off kilter during a testing of the incomplete waveform and for days afterwards was sick and finally how the man complained about not being able to lift as much weight as he used to. Now while this was working its way into his mind he was also aware that Soldier he was thinking of was able to work himself back up to the weight he used to lift over the course of six or seven months which means they would have to strike hard and fast when they use it lest the Soldier's build themselves back to their old strength level.

"Excuse me sir but didn't that one Soldier attending the waveform demonstration a year or two ago have problems casting magic at his old level?" Lt. Elliot spoke up from beside him as if he could read the Colonel's thoughts which was unlikely, rather he probably guessed them from long association. "In fact according to one of my old friends the Shinra scientists were perplexed about his performance loss, according to him the things most impacted on the guy were his healing abilities which for awhile seemed to be like a constant Regen spell, his bodies toughness seemed to be a constant barrier spell infusing his skin, and in battle he seemed to devolve into a berserker rage.."

"In other words they will go from nearly impossible to beat to difficult to overcome," Colonel Hein mused as a wicked smirk made its way onto his face. "we can definitely work with that.."

Author's notes: Care to guess who the carrier of the Jenova spirit is?


End file.
